Endure
by Camath
Summary: "Shinobi Rule Three: Shinobi are those who endure."
1. Chapter 1

**This story is set after the Naruto series, and mainly revolves around Sasuke's daughter Sarada. I really quite enjoy Sarada's character, and think everyone who hasn't read Naruto Gaiden should go read it. The story will be full of spoilers for Naruto, so I would advise you not to read unless you're okay with that. That being said, even if you haven't read the later chapters of Naruto and the following Gaiden, you can still read this. I'll be slowly incorporating the manga in, but this is pretty much based in the Walking Dead and will have very few Naruto characters in it. You shouldn't be too lost!**

 **'Japanese'**

 **"English"**

 **If I did own the Walking Dead/Naruto, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.**

 **...Who am I kidding, I so still would be.**

Sarada Uchiha carefully ran her fingers over the old photograph, smoothing out the creases. Her eyes traced the image of her father in the flickering light of the fire, his handsome face staring up at her impassively.

Beside him stood a woman; the redhead who had been haunting her thoughts ever since she'd first seen her. The woman with her glasses.

She had only wanted to find her father and get the truth about her heritage, but everything had changed so fast.

'You stare any longer at that picture and it might just burst into flames.'

Sarada stiffened, turning to look at the blond across from her. The Seventh Hokage smiled benignly as he stoked their campfire.

'How long until we can get home?' Sarada asked the war hero. She hesitated before adding, ' _Can_ we get home?'

'Well it won't be easy,' the Seventh admitted, gaze falling to the fire as a frown marred his whiskered face. 'Summoning doesn't seem to work here, so I can't just reverse summon us to our dimension. And I'm not well versed in Space-Time Ninjutsu to send us back myself.'

Sarada felt her hope sink at his words, staring at the dirt. If theNaruto Uzumaki couldn't find a way back, then it was likely there wasn'ta way back.

'However,' the Hokage continued, and the Uchiha snapped her head up to see his blue eyes watching her. 'I have full in confidence your father to find us and return us home.'

His calm tone was brimming with confidence and Sarada felt herself relax. 'Right!'

The blond grinned, the fire light changing his skin to the same orange of his shirt. 'Until then, just think of this as an extended training trip.' He pointed his thumb at his chest. 'Call me Naruto-sensei!'

Sarada smiled back, only to shiver slightly as a sudden gust of wind hit her. A moment later something heavy and soft fell around her shoulders - the Seventh's cloak.

'I-I can't take this, Seventh!' she protested, even if the cloak protecting her bare shoulders from the cool night air felt heavenly. She'd never realised how impractical her dress was in harsh weather. In her defence, she hadn't expected to leave Fire Country when she'd gotten changed this morning.

'Naruto-sensei,' he corrected and tugged at an orange sleeve. 'I've got plenty of warmth. Besides, worse comes to worse, Kurama's chakra can be used as a furnace.'

Sarada giggled at the image of the Nine Tailed Fox being used as a heater, which the blond grinned to.

'Go to sleep,' the Seventh - Naruto-sensei - instructed softly. 'We'll look for civilisation in the morning.'

Nodding, the twelve year old curled into the warmth of the makeshift blanket, falling asleep as the Hokage watched the fire die.

XXX

 _The Seventh, her father and Sarada all stared in shock at the sword protruding from the blond's stomach._

 _'_ _Seventh!_ _'_ _Sarada screamed, terrified as her Hokage fell to his knees with a grunt. The Fox construct guarding them flickered._

 _'_ _I'm fine, Sarada,_ _'_ _he reassured her, sounding slightly strained._

 _'_ _It is my eye's technique,_ _'_ _Shin Uchiha - the father - boasted as he stared at them with an unhinged grin._ _'_ _Now that you've got a taste to it you're not going to lose to it, are you?_ _'_

 _Sarada sucked in a startled breath as the Seventh chuckled weakly, his large shield flickering._ _'_ _I see. So your eye has the ability to manipulate weapons freely. And Sasuke's sword was inside my guard._ _'_

 _Shin smirked and suddenly her father was gone from beside her. A short gasp of pain from behind her made her spin; there he was, blades littering his back as he protected her from harm._

 _'_ _Dad!_ _'_ _she cried just as the Hokage yelled,_ _'_ _Sasuke!_ _'_

 _'_ _Now!_ _'_ _Shin hissed as the blond was momentarily distracted, and suddenly Sarada felt like she was being ripped away._

 _'_ _Sarada!_ _'_ _the Seventh shouted as the world warped around her. Two golden claws grasped her arms tightly and tried to pull her back, only to be dragged along with her. The last thing she saw before she was torn from the world was her father's horrified face._

XXX

Sarada shot up as she woke, sharingan blazing. A large hand rested on her shoulder and she tensed before relaxing as she realised who it belonged to.

'Nightmares?' Naruto-sensei questioned, looking concerned.

The Uchiha shook her head, deactivating her dojutsu. 'Memories,' she corrected, wrapping her hands around her knees.

Naruto-sensei's face turned solemn before he smiled and ruffled her hair. 'Cheer up, brat,' he ordered as he stood. 'Come on, we've got a long day ahead of us.'

Sarada nodded, scrambling to her feet. It was still fairly dark, but she could make out the bright rays from the sunrise peeking through the thick brush and hear the early bird singing dawn's tune.

'We'll be searching for civilisation today,' Naruto-sensei explained as he pulled a kunai from his pouch. Faster than Sarada could see, it disappeared from his hand, the only sign he'd thrown it was from the dull thud as the songbird hit the ground. 'But first, breakfast.'

As the Hokage cooked the bird over the smouldering ashes of their fire, he reviewed their plan for the day aloud.

'Unfortunately, we're going to have to find civilisation the old fashioned way,' Naruto-sensei noted with a faint grimace. 'I don't think it would be a good idea to try sensing again.'

Sarada copied the facial expression as she remembered his first attempt. Sage mode, the blond had explained, let him feel every being on the earth unless they were purposefully hiding (and even then in some cases). The Seventh had activated it to find their way back to Leaf when they'd first been dumped here, only to fall unconscious from sensory overload. Apparently there was billions of people in the world - more in their immediate area (in shinobi terms) than in all of the Elemental Nations. That made them both realise they were no longer in their world. They were reassured that they were still on some version of Earth thanks to the familiar flora and fauna.

'After we find civilisation, we can hopefully meet up with the local daimyo or Hokage and maybe get some help to speed our return home,' Naruto-sensei continued as he handed her half of the bird.

Sarada nodded in agreement before biting into the meat. The flesh was edible, which wasn't surprising. Cooking from scratch was a necessity for any shinobi. Still, the taste of the bland meat would never be her favourite and she couldn't quite hide her distaste before the Seventh caught it.

He chuckled, pulling a face himself. 'Heh, I agree. Almost as bad as cold ramen.'

After finishing their meal, the Hokage made any sign of their camp vanish with a quick jutsu. 'I'll teach it to you later,' Naruto-sensei promised, noticing her longing look. 'Pick up your Dad's sword, would you? Better not leave that behind or the bastard might skin me.'

'Right,' Sarada agreed as she bent down and picked up the sleek blade. She also picked up the Seventh's cloak, which the man clasped around his neck once more. A spare roll of bandages from Naruto-sensei had her father's blade sheathed and strapped to her back.

It was a little disconcerting knowing that this very sword had been in the Hokage's stomach not even a day ago. Still, the Hokage looked untouched from the injury, excluding his torn and slightly bloody clothing. 'Does it have a name?'

Naruto-sensei looked faintly surprised and scratched his head. 'Uh, not that I know of?'

Sarada flushed slightly, realising that the Hokage didn't exactly converse with her father too often, and that they likely didn't talk about sword names when they did. 'Forget it.'

As they trekked through the forest at a moderately fast pace away from the sun, Sarada took in the sights around them. 'The trees are so small,' she commented as they ran past. 'Are they younger than the one's in Leaf?'

Naruto-sensei laughed lightly, shaking his head. 'Older,' he replied, much to her surprise. 'I forgot that you haven't been out of Fire Country before. These trees are relatively normal sized around the world, unlike the trees around Leaf.'

Sarada's eyes widened. 'Are Hashirama trees really that huge?'

'Biggest trees in the world, excluding the God Tree,' the blond shinobi confirmed. He suddenly stopped and Sarada skidded to a halt just in front of him. 'Look over there.'

Panting slightly, Sarada took in the sight of ploughed fields. 'A farm?'

'Right,' Naruto agreed. 'And what might the farmer have?'

'A phone?' Sarada tried as she caught her breath.

'That, or some sort of map we may be able to borrow,' Naruto-sensei agreed as they began to walk through the fields. 'Even then, if nothing else, the farmer can point us in the direction of the nearest town.'

If Sarada was reading the sun correctly, they were nearing midday now. That meant that they'd be stopping soon. Which was good because the girl was getting thirsty, alongside her hunger. They hadn't passed any water source the whole way here.

Her eyes caught sight of cubical shaped blur in the distance. 'Over there!'

Naruto-sensei turned to look in the direction she pointed and he grinned. 'Good job, brat.' He ruffled the Uchiha's hair. 'Well done.'

They sped up their pace a bit, with their target now in sight. Sarada couldn't help the bright smile on her face as they closed in. Finally, they would get some answers and maybe a good meal, if the farmer was kind enough. If Naruto-sensei was Hokage in this dimension as well (and Sarada couldn't imagine a dimension without Naruto-sensei as the Seventh), then they would very likely be pointed in the direction of the Land of Fire.

Arriving on the porch, both of them noticed the boarded door and windows. 'Sensei?' Sarada questioned as the Hokage frowned.

'Stay on guard,' he instructed as he used a kunai to pry open a window. Sarada nodded, gripping her own kunai tightly.

Entering through the window, the first thing Sarada noticed was the dust. It could be seen layering everything even in the dark, at least an inch thick.

'Hello?' Naruto-sensei called, summoning a small glowing ball of rotating chakra. It bathed the house in a cold blue light.

They were currently in a kitchen, which obviously hadn't been used in a while. Cupboards were empty and the telltale hum of the refrigerator missing. Across the room was a small lounge and a thin hallway that no doubt led to the rest of the house. 'Anyone home?' Naruto-sensei asked again, a little louder, but obviously not expecting a response.

To their surprise, a thump sounded from down the hallway. With a quick look, they headed towards the room that it originated from.

Seeing as Naruto-sensei had his hands full with a kunai and his strange light source, Sarada moved forward and opened the door.

As tense was she was, when what was on the other side lunged at her she immediately slashed it with her kunai and gave a cry of alarm.

'Easy,' Naruto-sensei soothed as he stepped in after her and gazed down at her victim and wrinkled his nose. 'Ugh, it smells disgusting.'

It was a rat. Large and fat, it was as ugly as hell. She'd managed to efficiently decapitate it with one swing and it's head lay on the floor just a little bit away at the foot of a dresser, oozing dark blood.

The blond Hokage raised his arm, letting the blue light fill the room. The windows were boarded in here too, and a mirror with strange symbols that she faintly recognised were drawn in the dust. 'Romaji?' she whispered in confusion, bringing a hand up to trace the characters.

'I found our farmer,' Naruto-sensei informed her grimly and she turned to see what he was looking at. Sitting on the bed in the corner was a half-eaten corpse, eyes staring hollowly at her.

XXX

'Strange machine,' Naruto-sensei muttered as he turned the metal weapon in his hand. It was what the farmer had apparently used to kill himself with. From the placement of the exit wound, he'd obviously activated while pointing it in his mouth. 'But awesome.'

He aimed it at the wall, putting his thumb in what was obviously the trigger. Pulling it, the resulting BANG made both of them jump in surprise.

'That's so loud!' Sarada shouted over the ringing of her ears.

'WHAT!?' Naruto-sensei yelled back, hands clapped over his ears.

'THAT'S SO LOUD!'

He frowned. 'WHAT!?'

Shaking her head, the girl dropped it.

Once the ringing had subsided, the blond grimaced and pulled his pinkies out of his ears. 'That's so loud.'

Sarada rolled her eyes before she looked at the wall and gaped. 'W-what!?'

The wall now had a massive hole, looking like a small explosion had taken place.

'Holy shit,' Naruto-sensei swore, looking both terrified and gleeful. 'It looks like one of Sakura-chan's monstrous punches!'

The Uchiha slammed her fist into his stomach. 'Don't talk about my mum like that, shannaro!'

Nursing his stomach, Naruto-sensei laughed sheepishly. 'Sorry, Sarada.'

Adjusting her glasses, she turned to the door. 'Come on, we should search the rest of the house.'

The two nodded, splitting up and searching the house now that it was deemed clear.

'I found a compass and a map!' Naruto hollered from the study. 'And there's some water here!'

Sarada turned from the photograph she examining, pulling her eyes from the young girl's smiling face. 'Coming!'

The two sat on the porch nursing water bottles as the Hokage examined the map. 'I don't recognise any of this land,' Naruto-sensei admitted as he frowned at the map. 'And the weird squiggles aren't helping.'

Sarada hummed in agreement as she stared at the large stone a few feet from them. In front of the stone was freshly dug dirt.

'Sarada?'

The Uchiha turned to look at her Hokage. 'I think I know why the farmer killed himself.'

Naruto-sensei's expression sobered as his eyes flickered to the small grave before back to her. 'Did your mother ever tell you the story of Wave?'

'You mean their economic turn around?' It had been one of the more tame history subjects in the Academy. One of the more believable ones as well.

Naruto-sensei chuckled slightly. 'That's not exactly what I meant, but I guess that's part of it. Wave was our first - that is, Sasuke, Sakura-chan and I's first mission as genin.'

Sarada stared. 'My parents were on the same team as the Seventh?'

Naruto-sensei grinned a little. 'I wasn't always Hokage you know. I was a kid too.'

The girl found that hard to imagine. Naruto was a living legend, the Chosen One. Imagining him as anything other than the powerful Hokage she knew was impossible.

'That mission was our first out of the village. It was also the first your father recognised me as your rival.' The man smiled sadly. 'It was also the time that we were challenged in our belief of ninja.'

Sarada listened attentively as Naruto-sensei spun a tale of treachery and unsung heroes. It was far more interesting than listening to it in the Academy, and she could hear the raw emotion in his voice as he spoke of starving people and of little Inari's struggle.

'And so I trained all night,' Naruto-sensei continued, as he swallowed the last of his water. 'I had to prove, not only to that little boy, but to myself, that heroes do exist.' He wiped his chin. 'And, that's where I met him.'

'Who?' Sarada asked, finding herself entrapped in his words.

'Haku,' he said softly. 'Haku Yuki.'

Sarada knew that name. He was the creator of the Shinobi Nindo that the Seventh swore by.

' _When you protect your precious people is when you are strongest_ ,' the kunoichi quoted and Naruto-sensei looked momentarily surprised before he nodded his head.

'Right. And after that piece of wisdom, Haku left. The next time I saw him was on the battlefield.'

'W-what?' Sarada stammered, off balance from the sudden turn around.

'Haku was the fake hunter nin, Zabuza's accomplice,' Naruto-sensei explained. 'While Zabuza fought Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan guarded Tazuna, Sasuke and I faced off with Haku.' He smiled sadly. 'Sasuke activated his sharingan for the first time that battle. He also sacrificed himself to save me.'

Sarada could hardly breathe. She hadn't known, of course she hadn't known that. She could never even think that because both of her parents were alive and healthy. The fact that they had nearly died was unthinkable.

'Your father has a way with words,' the Seventh chuckled. ' _My body moved on its own_. Then he fell limp in my arms, stopped breathing. No pulse, no chakra, gone. All purposes dead, and truly dead if Haku wasn't a gentle soul. I had no idea why he did it.'

'Why wouldn't you?' Sarada had to ask. 'It was his duty to his comrades to die for them. Dad was just doing his job!' She took a deep breath. 'Shinobi Rule One: _Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash!_ _'_

Naruto-sensei chuckled deeply, shaking his head. 'That's the revised rule, under Kakashi-sensei's leadership. The words of Obito Uchiha, his teammate who sacrificed himself to save Kakashi-sensei.'

Sarada idly noted the pattern of self-sacrificing in her ancestors lives before pushing forward. 'Then what was the original rule?'

'Shinobi Rule One: _A shinobi is nothing more than a tool to his Hokage,_ followed by Shinobi Rule Two: _A shinobi must always complete his mission._ '

Sarada felt cold hearing the robotic rules. 'When you say must always complete his mission...'

'I do mean even if you have to leave a comrade behind, yes,' Naruto-sensei confirmed, much to her horror. 'You remember that guy who attacked us - what was his name?'

'Shin Uchiha,' Sarada supplied numbly and Naruto nodded before continuing.

'Shin, right. What he did with his 'son'? That was real common when Kakashi-sensei was a genin. By the time I was in duty, it was frowned upon, but still around. That's why I didn't understand. I didn't expect anyone, especially your father, to step in and save me, the demon container.'

Sarada stared down at the grave again, hands in lap. 'Why are you telling me this?'

He jerked his head back to the house. 'The farmer? He lost his precious person. He gave up. But shinobi are different. Because even when they lose everything, they keep fighting for what is right.' He smiled, blue eyes bright. 'Shinobi Rule Three: _Shinobi are those who endure._ '

Something wet dropped on her hands, and it was only then that Sarada realised that she was crying. She hastily wiped her eyes before fixing her glasses, ducking her head behind her bangs so the Hokage wouldn't see.

'Sarada,' the man caught her attention. 'This will be hard for you. You'll miss your family, your friends, your home. This won't be easy.'

Sarada hunched into herself, wrapping her arms around her legs and closing her eyes. She knew that, she didn't know why he was telling her it.

'But I believe in you,' Naruto-sensei said firmly. 'I believe you're strong enough to survive this. Strong enough to endure until we can get home.'

Something heavy and cloth was placed at her sandalled feet. She peered open her eyes to see a battered hitai-ate. One that had obviously had a hard life and was no doubt owned by the man beside her. 'I...'

'This will be your first mission, your Wave,' the Hokage said, straightening and voice becoming commanding. 'A long standing S rank mission, return to Leaf. Do you accept Genin Uchiha?'

Carefully, she bent down and grasped the cool metal plate. Tracing the leaf insignia briefly she nodded before tying the black cloth around her head. Sarada Uchiha, genin of Leaf, knelt before her Hokage with the Will of Fire burning in her coal orbs. 'Yessir!'

 **This chapter was an introduction to Sarada's character for those who haven't read Naruto Gaiden, while bringing them to the Walking Dead Universe. If you don't understand things, no worries, they'll probably be explained in later chapters.**

 **I hope you enjoyed reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you, my favouriters and followers. A special thanks to Abel Sephaos for reviewing :)**

 **To whom it may concern, I own none of the following franchises or their characters. I am only playing in the sand box, so to speak.**

' **Japanese'**

" **English"**

'It's romaji, the squiggles,' Sarada explained as she pointed to one of the letters. 'See? "A", "B", "C"...'

Naruto-sensei looked impressed by her knowledge. 'Did you learn this in the Academy?'

The genin shrugged modestly. 'It was an extra course in historic cryptography. Written from the time before chakra, and favoured by the Land of Lightning.'

'So you can read it?' the blond Hokage questioned.

'No,' Sarada denied, frown marring her forehead. 'It doesn't make any sense. See this,' she gestured at one of the larger words, '"A-T-L-A-N-T-A." It's like they've thrown a whole lot of letters together.'

'Maybe a different language?' Naruto-sensei suggested. 'A dead one, that apparently didn't die out like it did in our world.'

'That's possible,' Sarada agreed after a moment. 'We don't know where romaji came from after all.'

'Either way, assumptions get us nowhere,' Naruto-sensei smiled as he rolled the map. 'At the moment, I'm assigning you a D rank.'

The D rank, as Sarada found out, was getting lunch. Sarada knew the basics of hunting from the Academy, but the Seventh had several tricks he'd learned from his time on the road. 'Very good,' Naruto-sensei approved as she returned from her hunt with a squirrel slung over her shoulder. 'Now what do you do?'

'Skin it,' Sarada dutifully answered as she settled down next to the Hokage. 'And then start a fire to grill it.'

Naruto nodded before getting to his feet. 'That's right.'

'Sensei?' Sarada questioned carefully as his eyes scanned the bush she'd just returned from. 'Do you sense something?'

'I'll be back,' he said instead of answering, flashing a sunny smile as he melted into the shadows. She was alone.

Ignoring the uneasy twinge that filled her at the thought, the Uchiha concentrated on skinning their meal. Unfortunately it didn't do much to distract her and she found her thoughts drifting to Chocho and her father who they'd left in the midst of the battle. Would they be okay? Chocho, as much as she loved the Akimichi, was nowhere near capable of keeping up with an S rank battle (Not that Sarada herself was - she hadn't even seen them _move)_ and her father was injured-

A young, feminine scream pierced her thoughts and Sarada immediately jumped to her feet. After locating its source, she sped off to help the owner.

She skidded to a stop at what she saw in front of her.

A girl her age, obviously civilian, was fleeing from a man that was staggering after her. The man's skin was sickly yellow and diseased, his eyes vacant as a corpse as he stumbled in the direction of the child.

'Hey!' Sarada called once she snapped out of her shock at the sight. 'Leave her alone!'

The man's head turned to her, and he let out a low, animalistic snarl. It sent chills up her spine, but she put on a fierce face and put her kunai in front of her. 'I'm warning you!'

The man didn't listen as he lunged at her, hands reaching out to grasp at her with bony hands. Immediately Sarada put out her foot on his shoulder to kick him away, only to stare in horror as her sandal punched all the way through the flesh and made the limb fall to the ground. 'Wha-!?'

So shocked by the give, she didn't notice it - because this was obviously no man - was coming in for a bite until it was right in her face. She raised her arms to protect herself, eyes closing briefly as the teeth were not even an inch from her arm.

Something wet dripped on her, and she peered through her lashes to see the creature had sunk its teeth into a familiar bandaged arm.

'Don't close your eyes in combat,' Naruto-sensei scolded as he drove a kunai between the creature's eyes. He grabbed the head and detached it from his limb. 'Where's the girl?'

A shrill scream answered them, and they both turned to see a creature had snuck up on her. This one was feminine, and missing half of it's jaw. It had just nipped the girl before she'd shoved it off her. A moment later Naruto-sensei had thrown his kunai through its head.

"I'm bit!" the girl cried, much to their confusion. "I'm bit!"

'Different language,' Naruto-sensei muttered even as he purposefully walked forward towards the girl.

She shrunk slightly in fear, sobbing as she clutched her wounded neck, which was still bleeding profusely.

'Hey,' Naruto-sensei said softly as he crouched down next to her, gesturing to her neck. 'Can I see?'

She looked confused at his words, but the meaning was clear, so she slowly removed her hands.

The wound was ugly, already festering with infection as it oozed her life source.

'She's going to bleed out,' the blond muttered. 'Sarada!'

Sarada snapped her eyes away from the neck. 'Y-yes?'

'Your mother gave you some training in medical ninjutsu right?'

'Yes, but,' she faltered. 'Only cuts and scrapes. I-I don't think I can-'

'That's fine,' Naruto-sensei said firmly. 'Just stop the bleeding. I'll deal with the infection.'

Nodding, she knelt next to the girl and let her hand bathe itself in the warm green chakra. Knitting the skin together, she noticed that the new skin was black instead of the normal pink.

Naruto-sensei placed his hand over the wound once she was finished, hand having a golden glow. Sarada winced as the girl screamed loudly in pain, but Naruto-sensei didn't react beside his eyes narrowing slightly and holding the civilian still. Finally she went silent, and it was only from the slight raising of her chest and the faint sound of breathing that told Sarada that the girl was still alive. Her wound was no longer black, but a faint purple colour. Naruto-sensei pulled back, looking tired as he ran his bloody hand through his hair. Sarada hovered uncertainly as she looked between the two. 'Is she...?'

'She'll be fine now,' Naruto-sensei informed her as he turned to face the genin. He did not look happy. 'What were you thinking, running headfirst into that situation!?'

Sarada blinked slightly in confusion. 'She needed help-'

'And you couldn't help from a distance? Or call for me?' Naruto-sensei interrupted. Sarada dropped her eyes as her Hokage shot her a disappointed look. 'What if that thing had bit you?'

'You had gone off-' Sarada protested weakly before it clicked. 'You knew they were out there.'

'Something had followed you back after you went hunting, and I went to dispose of it,' Naruto-sensei explained, as he moved his hand to unwrap the blood soaked bandages of his right arm. 'I don't know what these things are, but they're dangerous. Some kind of virus has poisoned the chakra in their bodies, making them move even after the person is long dead. If that thing had bit you...'

Sarada felt her blood freeze. Chakra viruses were rare in the shinobi world, but deadly all the same. Without a medic, they could result in a crippled chakra system or in worst case scenarios - death. Then she gasped, 'B-but your arm-'

Naruto-sensei surprisingly chuckled and she looked down at the now unwrapped limb. The sight of festering wound made her want to be sick. Black veins spread from the bite through his bloodstream and tried to keep her attention, but she followed his gaze to the strange elbow. It wasn't quite right, looking more like a hinge than bone. It clicked. 'It's a prosthetic.'

'Correct,' Naruto-sensei confirmed as he removed it with a grimace. 'And I think it's best we remove the contaminated piece of equipment until we know more about this virus. I really should think before I move.'

'I...what about her?' Sarada asked, nodding at the civilian girl who was unconscious still. 'She was bitten.'

'I gave her some of Kurama's chakra to try and burn the infection from her body,' Naruto-sensei explained. 'It will make her unable to mould chakra, but considering she's civilian, I doubt it matters.'

'But you've given chakra before,' Sarada pointed out. 'In the Fourth War. That didn't hurt anybody.'

'I gave it to shinobi,' Naruto-sensei expanded as he picked up the girl and put her on his back. 'Not civilians. Having your chakra network opened forcefully using demonic chakra would hurt like hell, if it didn't kill her from shock.'

So it had been a gamble. And they still didn't even know if it would stop the weird virus. Sarada wondered whether or not the Demon Fox would be able to get rid of the infection like it did with poisons from the blond Hokage's body. Only time would tell.

'You're going to give me an oral report on how you should have handled that situation,' Naruto-sensei said as they headed back to the farmhouse. 'And we'll be going over your tactics. You can't afford to close your eyes and freeze in combat.'

'Yessir,' Sarada mumbled as she fell in line behind him.

XXX

The girl was in and out of consciousness for six days in varying states of lucidity. A fever ran through her veins, and Naruto-sensei constantly had a clone monitoring her state. The bite wound had turned a sickly yellow colour, but otherwise she seemed to be spared from the strange virus. Naruto-sensei's prosthetic limb had been sealed in a scroll to give to her mother for study once they returned home.

The blond Hokage used the time to teach Sarada several small jutsu for getting clean water, setting up snares and scavenging the flora for edibles. He drilled her in her taijutsu until all she could do was drag her black and blue self back to the farmhouse to collapse in a pile of limbs.

They also went information gathering. Staying upwind from the infected creatures, they observed their habits and Naruto-sensei had her dispose of them.

'It's nicer this way,' Naruto-sensei mused as he rubbed some gathered herbs into the venison. 'You get the desensitisation of killing a human being, without actually doing it. You get used to gore and don't have to deal with the guilt.'

Sarada didn't want to know what it was like to kill an actual human being without desensitisation if what she was going through was nice. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't seem to get the blood out from beneath her fingernails, and she'd picked them raw before she'd realised. Naruto-sensei had said nothing, only handing her a roll of bandages and mussing her hair with a sad smile. And that had been tame compared to the nightmares that had followed her that night.

'I'll take first watch,' Sarada murmured as she accepted the plate of meat from the Seventh.

Naruto-sensei observed her for a moment before nodding. 'Wake me up at midnight.'

Sarada sat, staring at her bandaged hands from her perch on the rooftop. Crickets chirped, and the silence was eerie after living in the busy city of Leaf. 'I miss you Mum,' she said suddenly, startling even herself. 'It's been a week and I miss you. I miss your terrible cooking, I miss your taijutsu practice. Hell, I even miss your monstrous punches.' Tears dripped down her face. 'I promise you I'll clean my teeth and eat my greens.' She wiped her eyes hastily. 'And I promise that I won't cry anymore! It's a promise of a lifetime, shannaro!'

A gentle wind brushed through her raven locks as she stared up at the moon - identical to the one of home - and she smiled. 'I'll be home soon.'

XXX

It was during her watch that the civilian girl woke. She was surprisingly aware for the first time, and Sarada watched her from shadows as she walked around the room with confusion. 'Sensei?' she whispered under her breath.

'Here.' The answer came from right next to her, and she almost yelped in surprise at the sudden appearance. Amused blue orbs eyed her as she scowled at their owner.

"Mum?" the girl called out, hand clasped to her neck. "Mama!?"

'Talk to her,' Naruto-sensei instructed after they watched her get more and more panicked. 'Civilians always have loose tongues with brats.'

Internally sighing, Sarada nodded and she stepped out of the shadows. 'Over here.'

The girl let out a shrill scream of surprise, and Sarada winced as she covered her ears. She'd forgotten civilians were deaf.

The girl winced as well, giving a small moan as she clasped her hands in her ears. "Ow..."

'Hi,' Sarada greeted with a small wave when her ears stopped ringing. 'I'm Sarada.'

The girl frowned, shaking her head. "I can't understand you. Can you speak English?"

'She doesn't speak Elemental,' Naruto-sensei's voice drifted into her ear, barely heard. 'We need to get some nutrition into her. I'm going out to cook up the leftovers.' The girl frowned again, glancing around the room before shaking her head.

Sarada gave the barest hint of a nod before she gestured at herself. 'Sarada,' she emphasised purposefully before gesturing at the civilian.

The girl's eyes lit up with recognition before she gestured at herself. "Sophia." She pointed at the Uchiha. "Sahrahdah?"

'Sarada,' the kunoichi rectified. 'So-fe-a?'

"So _phi_ a," the civilian corrected before putting her hand out. "It's nice to meet you, Sarada."

After a brief moment of cataloguing the protruding limb, Sarada accepted the handshake. 'A pleasure, Sophia.'

"Have you seen my Mum?" Sophia asked, before her face became crestfallen. "Never mind, you don't know what I'm saying..."

Wary of an upset civilian (she'd heard horror stories from Chocho) Sarada immediately distracted her. 'Do you want some food?' she questioned, miming eating. 'Food?'

Sophia brightened slightly before she nodded. "Yes please!"

Sarada led her outside, where Naruto-sensei sat, humming a song as he grilled some of the leftovers.

Sophia paused in the doorway at seeing him, fear flickering across her face briefly.

Naruto-sensei looked over to her and smiled, which she returned after a moment of indecision and a glance at his missing limb.

Sophia pointed at herself, saying her name before pointing at the Hokage.

'Naruto,' he introduced. 'Na-ru-to.' He handed Sophia a plate. 'Here you go Sophia.'

"Thanks."

They ate, Naruto-sensei using the time to outline today's revised plan. 'She probably will go to sleep again soon, with how tired her body is,' he said around a mouthful of venison. 'Her body's been put through the ringer. I'm going to give you a C rank.'

Sarada very carefully did not grimace as she foresaw what he was about to say.

'You're to guard Sophia here and keep her safe. And as a bonus, if you learn the language I'll teach you something cool.'

Sarada nodded after a moment of wondering what kind of thing the Seventh classified as cool. 'Yessir.'

Xxx

Naruto-sensei was correct when he said Sophia would crash. She was asleep before Sarada was meant to swap watch with the blond.

The next couple of days weren't much better, but both the ninja noticed the large appetite the civilian had. She was eating like an injured shinobi instead of a twelve year old girl.

'It's probably because I opened her chakra network,' Naruto-sensei informed Sarada as he piled another fish on the civilian's plate. 'It's forced her body into overdrive. It'll finish soon.'

That wasn't actually a bad thing. The sped up metabolism would quickly flush out whatever was left of the virus. The only annoying part was Sarada spent a little longer hunting.

"Tree."

Other than that, she spent most of her time information gathering. "Tori?"

"No, no, _tree,_ " Sophia emphasised, looking amused. "It's easy."

 _"No"_ was a word Sarada had been well acquainted with, as she found learning English far more difficult than she thought. "Toree."

"Closer. Tree."

It didn't help that Naruto-sensei wasn't even attempting. "Tree."

Sophia clapped her hands. "Yes! And it's 'tree', right?"

Sarada scowled slightly as she nodded her head, annoyed Sophia was having such an easy time learning Elemental. 'Yes.'

After two week mark in this new world, Naruto-sensei finally decided that Sophia was well enough to move. 'We'll have to go slow,' the blond noted as he spread the map on the kitchen counter. 'Not as much as I thought we would, it seems Kurama's chakra gave her a boost.'

Sarada had noticed Sophia's enhanced senses as well. The girl's hearing and sense of sight were impeccable, and after she'd healed, she was almost bouncing off walls.

Sophia had also noted her enhanced senses, and had tried to ask them about it, but with the language barrier it only ended in frustration for both sides. The topic was eventually dropped until they could converse without resorting to charades.

Sophia, who had followed them even though she couldn't understand half of what they were talking about, peered at the map. "Are you going somewhere?" she asked gesturing at the map and making a walking gesture with her hands.

Naruto-sensei nodded, gesturing around them and pointing at the map with a puzzled expression on face. 'Where are we?'

"Where is here?" Sophia translated, frowning slightly as she looked at the map. "I think somewhere around here." She gestured at the a green block between several red lines before touching one of the redlines. "This is where my mum last was. Uh, 'female dad'."

'Mother,' Sarada supplied the word the civilian was looking for. The word for father had been brought up when Sophia had tried to ask Naruto-sensei's relationship to her, and Sarada had ended up saying he was uncle for simplicity's sake. Naruto-sensei had laughed a little and said he didn't mind her calling him that in privacy, though Sarada didn't see herself doing that anytime soon.

"Right, 'mother'." Sophia gestured to the line again before giving a so-and-so sign and then tapping her wrist like a watch. "Here maybe, it's been a long time."

Sarada examined the strange name, before pointing to it. "Sophia, what?"

"W McIntosh Rd," Sophia read aloud. "There's a lot of cars and supplies up there. And w-walkers."

Sarada watched as the the auburn haired girl paled and raised a hand to her neck before shaking her head and pointing at one of the larger names. "That's Columbus. Where we were going." She made the walking sign again and tracing the redlines from W McIntosh Rd to Columbus.

"Corunbasu," Sarada mangled, making Naruto-sensei grin and Sophia hide a smile behind a hand.

XXX

"I should be dead, you know," Sophia murmured as she packed the farmer's daughter's clothes into a pack. "The walker bites, they kill you."

Sarada just nodded her head, accurately guessing from the lack of charades Sophia just wanted a sounding board, not a conversation.

"You guys did something," Sophia continued as she zipped up the bag and put it on her shoulder. "I feel like you guys are like aliens or something, with your special powers."

'Give that here,' Sarada said, motioning to the bag before making a _give me_ sign.

Sophia blinked before shaking her head stubbornly. 'Me.'

'Mine,' Sarada corrected and gave her an unimpressed look. 'It's too heavy for you to carry for long. You're only civilian.'

Sophia wrinkled her nose at the word 'civilian', as it was one she heard a lot when they were talking about her. She knew it had something to do with their powers and her being unable to do them. It probably meant 'earthling' or something. 'No. Mine.'

'What's the hold up?' Naruto-sensei asked as he popped around the corner. Sophia jumped a little, but didn't scream like she had during the early days when they forget to tread loudly. She still tensed at Naruto-sensei's proximity to her though. Both the ninja had put it down to traumatic experiences with men and decided to ignore it until it went away.

'Sophia wants to carry her bag,' Sarada explained and Naruto-sensei glanced at the stubborn face before giving a small grin.

'Twenty minutes.'

Sarada thought about it for a moment. 'I give her ten.'

 **For Naruto's recklessness when first dealing with the walker and losing his limb, Naruto has admitted already that he's out of shape and didn't think before he acted. Not to mention that Sasuke did the same thing in Naruto Gaiden.**

 **And timeline has been established! Of course, I'm not a very big fan of sticking close to the script, so don't expect the whole 'Naruto finds Sophia and returns her back to the group and joins them' thing that seems to be so common. I only had Sophia because I needed a connection to the group, to set the timline, a translator and someone around Sarada's own age. Considering she fit the bill pretty well, she'll be tagging along with the two nin.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Don't own Naruto or Walking Dead. Thought you ought to know.**

 **Sorry for the wait on chapter.**

 **Shout out to AnimeNin117, mimiutami, Skeek622 and Abel Sephaos for the amazing reviews. You guys are awesome.**

 **Chapter 3**

Sophia was more stubborn than Sarada had thought and lasted a full twenty minutes before collapsing in exhaustion from the ninja's pace.

'Look's like you've got cooking duty tonight,' Naruto-sensei grinned as he picked up the redhead. Sophia wrapped her noodle limbs around the blond for the piggyback, far too exhausted to even react to the close proximity of the man like she usually did.

Sarada looped the bag onto her back where it jostled her father's sword. 'I underestimated her.'

They picked up the pace even more now that they no longer had to slow for the civilian, speeding through the trees at a shinobi jog. It was only four minutes later that they hit a road.

"S-seereekuwoodo," Sarada stumbled over the word, and Sophia giggled before correcting her.

"It's Creekwood Rd. C is both a _see_ sound and a _keh_ sound."

Sarada didn't understand any of that but the correction, which made her scowl at the obtuse word. 'Stupid English.'

Naruto-sensei had the map in his hands, and traced the word Creekwood Rd up to W McIntosh Rd. 'Looks like we follow this road south.'

The loud noise of something co-ordinately challenged came to the ears of the three, and they turned to see a walker stumble onto the road.

It had once been woman, wearing what would have been a rather pretty sundress but was torn and dirty as it hung like rags off the undead creature. Its skin was pulled tight over its bones, and Sarada could spot the signs of someone dead by starvation.

Sophia let out a whimper, hand over her mouth to muffle her cries. She was shaking.

'Sarada,' Naruto-sensei commanded softly, his posture calm and unworried.

Sarada nodded and reached into her pouch. Kunai in hand, she flicked her wrist and watched as the knife buried itself in between the eyes.

When the walker dropped and didn't move for several moments, Sarada moved forward and did the check before retrieving her kunai. 'Clear.'

"Whoa," Sophia breathed, her eyes wide. "That was so cool."

Sarada's lips curled into a smirk at what was obviously a praise, which Naruto-sensei caught. He raised an eyebrow and she flushed slightly before ducking her head.

'Don't get cocky,' Naruto-sensei's expression wordlessly admonished, which Sarada had admittedly been doing. She shouldn't be so pleased by a simple bit of praise from a civilian girl about an easy hit with a kunai.

'Are you good, Sophia?' Naruto-sensei asked the girl on his back.

'Yes,' Sophia answered, which was truthful. She was looking a little better now that the walker was dead. 'Keep go.'

'Going,' Sarada corrected automatically as she stepped in line with Naruto-sensei who had begun moving forward again.

'Going,' Sophia repeated, rolling her eyes slightly and slumping into Naruto's back. "Geez, even aliens have grammar nazis."

There were a lot of vehicles on W McIntosh. By a lot, Sarada meant more than she'd seen in all of the Leaf.

'Wow,' Naruto-sensei whistled as he stared with her. 'That is a _lot_ of cars.'

The whistle caught the attention of a few walkers, but since they were stuck inside the cars, the ninja opted to ignore them.

"Car," Sophia said, pointing at a car.

"Kah," Sarada repeated, before trying to match Sophia's accent. "Car." At Sophia's nod, she gave Sophia the Elemental word.

'Car, clear?' Sophia questioned.

Naruto-sensei shook his head. 'Waste of time. C'mon, we're losing daylight.'

While passing several cars, Sophia suddenly spoke. "Stop!"

The word wasn't known to Sarada or Naruto-sensei, but when Sophia started squirming on the blond's back, he got the message and put her down.

The civilian girl stumbled slightly as her weak legs were reacquainted with the ground, but she quickly regained equilibrium and hurried in the direction of a car decorated with romaji written in large letters. One word Sarada recognised as Sophia's name, remembering the girl etch the words into the mud with a stick when she bored.

"Sophia, stay here. We'll come back every day," the girl read aloud, a smile lighting her face as she spun to look at them. "They're looking for me!"

At their confused looks, Sophia tried to translate. 'Mother words. Wait, one night,' she said, holding up a stop sign before one finger and then putting her head on her hands like she was sleeping.

'You want us to stay a night here, because you think your mother is going to come and see if you're here,' Sarada translated and Naruto-sensei's eyes sharpened slightly as he gazed at the car.

'There's food inside,' he informed them. 'Quite a lot, actually.'

Sophia perked up at the word 'food'. "They left some supplies for me?"

Naruto-sensei jiggled the handle, only for it to fall off. He frowned before turning to Sarada. 'Say Sarada...'

'Got it,' the genin affirmed as she cocked her fist. The bandages surrounding her hand protected it from the glass shards and she reached into open the door from the inside.

The inventory of the vehicle added up to sixteen cans of foods (which only Sophia could identify), several pairs of clothes, a few books and seven bottles of water.

'Right,' Naruto-sensei said after Sarada had catalogued it. 'Well, I think we'll stay for the night.'

'We wait night?' Sophia asked hopefully.

"Yes," Sarada confirmed and Sophia's face broke out into a beautiful smile.

'But one night,' Naruto-sensei said, waggling his finger at the civilian. 'No more. I want to get to civilisation as quickly as possible. We need to see how far this chakra virus has spread.'

That was a point. They'd originally wanted to get to a large civilisation to contact the local ninja, but that didn't seem very likely to happen if this virus was widespread. 'Naruto-sensei, how are we going to get home?'

'I told you before Sarada. Your parents will find us. Don't doubt it.' Then the blond Hokage smiled. 'Now, you've been doing good on your language learning, so I'll teach you something cool.'

Sarada was then taught how to make storage seals, which Sarada found fascinating.

'This is what holds Fox-sama inside you, right?' she questioned.

'On a basic level, yes,' Naruto-sensei confirmed. 'Storage seals are real handy for carrying supplies.'

He had her copy his movements in making the seals with her sharingan after she understood each part of the seal. That was mostly for convenience sake, as they didn't have any spare paper for her to practice on. Naruto-sensei didn't want her relying on her sharingan.

Sophia had spent the time perched on top of the car with her nose stuck in a book. The title read "The Great Gatsby" and Sarada wasn't even going to attempt to pronounce that one.

'As per agreement, you're going hunting for lunch,' Naruto-sensei said and Sarada blinked.

'But we have supplies now-'

'And they're going to be emergency supplies, in case we somehow end up unable to find our own food,' Naruto-sensei interjected smoothly. 'Besides, you can use the trip to make a perimeter. Deal with any of the infected you see, but make sure you don't get close.' He picked up a scroll and handed it to her. 'And note this, always have emergency supplies on your person.'

'Yessir,' Sarada sighed, slipping the scroll in her pouch.

XX

The walker growled, hand clawing at Sophia from its position caught under the wheel. The girl gasped, treading backwards until she bumped into Sarada who gave her an unimpressed look.

The civilian had been unable to get to sleep with this walker so close to her and she had begged Sarada to take care of it. But the Uchiha saw this as the perfect opportunity to teach the girl something she may need for someday. After all, it only took one mistake and it was better that Sophia could rely on herself if they were otherwise occupied.

"I can't do this," she gasped, shaking her head frantically. 'I can't do.'

'Don't be ridiculous, of course you can.' Sarada grabbed her wrist and fixed the kunai she was grasping. 'You're holding it wrong.'

'I can't do,' Sophia repeated. Her spare hand raised to her neck. 'Sarada, I can't.'

'Sophia,' Sarada said sharply, jolting Sophia from her spiralling thoughts. She gently took the hand from her neck and knelt next to the trapped walker, dragging the auburn haired girl with her. She grasped the hand that reached in their direction and pinned it to the side with a kunai. 'There. It can't reach you.' She gestured. 'You go.'

Sophia futilely tugged at her arm, but Sarada's grasp didn't loosen. 'Sarada, please.' She glanced back at Naruto-sensei, who had his eyes closed as he rested, before back at Sarada's unflinching stare. 'Can't you?'

'Why should I have to do it?' Sarada fired back. When it was obvious that Sophia didn't understand that, she rephrased in English. "Why me?"

"You know how to use this stuff!" Sophia harshly whispered, gesturing at her kunai and then at the walker who was still snarling at them. "I don't!"

Sarada squeezed Sophia's hand in a comforting way after she'd decoded Sophia's sentence. She tried to install the confidence that Naruto-sensei always put in her into the other girl. "You can do."

Sophia's eyes widened slightly before she glanced at the knife in her hand. "I can do this," she muttered, looking at the walker. "I can do this!"

She raised the knife, no longer shaking, a determined look shining in her eyes.

"Here," Sarada pointed at the temple, ignoring the way it snapped at her hand. 'You've got to hit the Gate of Opening. It's an easy access point.' She let go of the girl's hand, ready to step in if Sophia did something spectacularly stupid like put her hand directly in the walker's mouth.

Sophia nodded, aiming the knife at the temple. Then she screwed her eyes shut and slid the knife into the rotten flesh.

Sarada squeezed her hand again, smiling warmly. "Good."

Behind them, Naruto-sensei's lips tilted into a proud smile.

XX

The next day was spent with Naruto-sensei teaching Sophia the basics of 'Little Leaf' taijutsu. With the civilian's now chakra enhanced stamina and strength, she was about as strong as the average academy student and the shinobi thought it best to teach her to utilise her new physic to its full capability.

Sarada meanwhile was practicing the body flicker technique. Which, the Uchiha found out, meant continuously smashing face first into the surroundings cars. 'I am incredibly lucky that my glasses are of shinobi make,' she muttered as she rubbed her nose. The car where she'd careened into now had a permanent indent of her face now decorating the door. 'The vehicles here seem to be made of tinfoil.'

She briefly contemplated turning on her sharingan to negate the tunnel vision before dismissing the idea. She wanted to master it without the cursed eyes. She didn't want to fall into the same pit her ancestors had. Plus, Naruto-sensei would be disappointed.

Said man's supervising clone guffawed at another spectacular failure, making her scowl.

'Did you get it first time?' she asked pointedly.

Naruto-sensei-clone waved a hand, a light pink colouring his cheeks as he was suddenly interested in the sky. 'Of course I did. Try harder, little Uchiha. Look underneath the underneath.'

Sighing, Sarada once again flicked through the seals. This time, instead of immediately activating the jutsu, she took a moment to analyse.

Generally after gathering the chakra, she immediately sent it to her hands to activate the jutsu like she did for the most standard jutsu. But what if it wasn't like most jutsu? Body Flicker wasn't teleportation, but fast movement.

With that in mind, she carefully spread more of her chakra to strengthen the rest of her body, similar to her mother's chakra enhanced strength. Then she looked back at her target (the rooftop of a van) and activated the jutsu.

Naruto-sensei-clone whistled as she careened straight into the van's hood, smashing into it with the force that made the van skid backwards despite its breaks. 'Nice try.'

Sarada's sharingan briefly flashed on in annoyance before she shoved the emotion down. Gritting her teeth, she put her hands together and gathered her dwindling chakra. 'Body Flicker no Jutsu!'

This time before she could take off Naruto-sensei put his hand on her shoulder, his clone disappearing into a wisp of smoke. 'That's enough Sarada. You'll run out of chakra otherwise.'

Sarada scowled, but let her chakra return to her core. She was well aware that chakra exhaustion was no laughing matter.

When she spotted Sophia however, her spirits were lifted at a fellow sufferer. "You look good."

Sophia gave a tired grin, wincing as the action pulled on her bruised face. "I have a new appreciation for your training."

Sarada laughed after she took a moment to pick apart the sentence, before she added. "Gets worse. He be easy on you."

The look of horror made Naruto-sensei snicker even if he didn't understand. He ruffled Sarada's hair. 'She'll make a good sparring partner in the future. She's got the stamina and strength to be a taijutsu specialist.'

That would be good. As much as practicing against Naruto-sensei was fun, she needed practice on someone her own size least she get out of practice.

Naruto-sensei glanced a the sun, which was halfway through the sky. 'Guess it's lunch.'

At Sophia's pleading, they opened a can of what was now known as peaches. Sarada spent a few minutes to enjoy the sweet fruit before she helped Sophia with her bruises.

The fact that the girl still smiled at Naruto-sensei now, even after the 'beating', meant she obviously trusted him and was over whatever had been causing her to avoid him.

Perhaps, Sarada mused, it was Naruto-sensei's legendary charisma. Despite the language barrier and his job as an assassin he practically exuded a friendly innocent aura.

'Did Sakura-chan make these pastes?' Naruto-sensei asked as he examined her healing paste she'd pulled from her weapon pouch.

Sarada shook her head. 'I did. It's a real basic one that Mum taught me when I was six. It's made to help the process of ninjutsu healing along, not doing anything itself.'

"Are you going to use magic again?" Sophia asked, and Sarada nodded as she let her hand flicker green.

"There," she said after a few moments, the bruises now a faded yellow instead of an ugly purple. "How does feel now?"

Sophia poked bruise on her arm experimentally, awe on her face. "It's just a little tender. Uh, soft hurt."

Sarada tsked but left it. She was low on chakra at the moment and couldn't do a proper job. Her face at least was now free of bruises.

Naruto-sensei clapped his hands. 'Well, Sophia can rest up while I train you in taijutsu my little student.'

Sophia shot her a sympathetic look as the Uchiha groaned quietly, sliding to her feet. Sarada fell into her mother's style, the 'Forest Fall' a little distance away from the car.

'Foot's out,' Naruto-sensei informed, kicking her leg lightly. 'Arms closer, higher.'

Once she corrected the mistakes, Naruto-sensei lashed at her in quick striking movements. Being more skilled then Sophia, she managed to block the attacks. With her mother's training she could take the attacks from the bigger man, her strength almost equal to his when he wasn't enhancing it.

Naruto-sensei grinned a little before he suddenly switched his attack style, making her falter in her movements before getting knocked off her feet by a kick to back of her knees.

'Legs, brat, watch the legs.'

'Yes, yes,' Sarada grumbled, aware of Sophia's awed, almost hero-worshipping gaze the girl shot her while she fought off the next few attacks. She now realised how Boruto felt with his stalkers. It was rather disturbing.

Suddenly, Naruto-sensei broke pattern to catch one of her kick's. Sarada used the oppurtunity to get a hit to his stomach, making the man grunt in pain but not return a hit as he cocked his head to the side.

'Sensei?' Sarada asked as she realised he had heard something.

'There's a herd of walkers coming this way,' the man informed her.

"Sophia, we hide," Sarada called to the girl, pointing at the tree line. "Climb."

Sophia nodded, and got to her feet quickly. She scaled the tree with a little difficulty while both Sarada and Naruto-sensei easily walked up and sat in the higher branches.

The herd, as Naruto-sensei called it, was a mass of walkers that ambled past them. Sophia and Naruto-sensei both wrinkled their noses, stronger senses being detrimental in this case.

Time passed slowly as they waited and eventually Sophia pulled out her book and Naruto-sensei played with his metal contraption ("It's a shotgun," Sophia told him). Sarada spent her time watching as the dead walked.

How had this world let this chakra virus spread so far? Shouldn't medical-nin have dealt with it in its early stages? She shook her head, unable to believe the incompetence of this universe's shinobi.

A sharp shot rang out from behind them, taking them by surprise. It was faint, obviously rather far, but audible nonetheless. The undead turned in its direction, stumbling beneath their tree as they headed in the direction of the noise.

'Might be my mum?' Sophia whispered to Naruto-sensei.

The man frowned slightly before he nodded. 'I'll have a look.'

Four clones appeared without smoke in the tree next to them, before they silently took off in the direction of the shot.

A few minutes later Naruto-sensei murmured, 'It was a boy around twelve in a large brown hat and a man, father by looks, in a uniform of some kind. Sound familiar?'

.


End file.
